In Middlesex County, Vera England -- a member of the Angels, a fundraising team from the Church of the Visitation in Topping -- was on the high school athletic field shortly before 6 p.m., helping with last-minute preparations for the Relay For Life of Piankatank.

Clouds were building in the sky, and the Relay staff was worried that a storm was coming. Then England saw a bolt of lightning strike nearby.

"It was right behind the gym. It came straight down, and it was wide," she said, adding, "I heard the thunder at the same time, so I knew it was close."

England said she and others who saw the strike told one of the Relay chairwomen, and the event was quickly moved into the gymnasium.

About the same time, but some 25 miles south, the Gloucester County Relay staff was also moving from the athletic field into the high school. Nobody reported lightning, but it had rained hard about an hour earlier.

"They said there'd be more storms with lightning," said Mary Smythe, the event's chairwoman.

Cancer survivors participating in the Gloucester Relay spanned several generations. Perhaps the oldest survivor in the room was Sadie Williams, 81, for whom this year's event was dedicated.

Erin Davis, 20, said she was probably one of the youngest. Diagnosed last year with a rare form of cancer, Davis -- a college student -- is now cancer-free.

"I've done Relays all through high school," said Davis, who as a Gloucester High School senior was a member of the school's championship crew team.

"This is my first year as a survivor."

Gloucester's most famous cancer survivor, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, also participated in the event.

Davis walked the survivor's lap, made a few brief remarks and then mingled with the participants.

Relay participants in both counties planned to continue walking laps throughout the night and to enjoy various activities, entertainment and refreshments, then wrap things up for another year this morning. *